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United Airlines will miss its target of 2025 to retrofit its entire fleet with new, modernized cabins, airline executives said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In comments during the airline’s first-quarter earnings call with investors, chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella blamed ongoing supply chain constraints.<\/p>\n
Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG\u2019s free biweekly aviation newsletter<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n “The supply challenges across the board, whether it be [in-flight entertainment], chips, seats and many other things are just more challenging than they’ve ever really been,” Nocella said. “The total time to convert all the aircraft is going to be longer than we expected, unfortunately, probably by a year or two.”<\/p>\n United unveiled its new cabin interior in 2021<\/a> alongside an order for 270 narrow-body aircraft, saying it would retrofit its entire fleet of existing mainline aircraft. The new cabins feature<\/a> individual in-flight entertainment screens with Bluetooth connectivity for headphones, larger overhead lockers and a new LED lighting scheme.<\/p>\n While airline executives initially suggested that the retrofit program would be completed by 2025, supply chain constraints \u2014 which have also affected new aircraft deliveries \u2014 caused that target to slip.<\/p>\n In December, during an announcement for a separate order of widebody aircraft, United CEO Scott Kirby told TPG<\/a> that the retrofit program had started out slower than expected. Still, he had said it should be largely finished by the middle of the decade.<\/p>\n “Not much has been done so far,” Kirby said at the time. “It’s on track to be, if not 100% complete by 2025, substantially completed by 2025.”<\/p>\n “There have been some supply chain [issues], but we’ve mostly gotten those wrestled to the ground,” he added.<\/p>\n